Professors Stephen Choi of Berkeley and Mitu Gulati of Georgetown devised an evaluation system for U.S. circuit court of appeals judges, ranking them on criteria intended as measures of independence and influence among peers. According to the AP, Profs. Choi and Gulati admit they expected prominent conservatives such as Samuel Alito, Michael Luttig and Edith Jones to fare poorly. "Instead, they got surprisingly high marks." We could have told them that. Judges Posner and Easterbrook took the top two slots -- no surprise there, either.